"Xiang Fei... " Chū Táo said, tilting her head: "There's no news, just heard that Xiang Fei has been vomiting a lot during her pregnancy and rarely leaves the house."

  Lin Wan let out a soft "oh". Xiang Fei was somewhat beyond her expectations. When she returned from Youzhou Station, her biggest defense in her heart was Xiang Fei, thinking that she had taken away the imperial favor that Xiang Fei valued most, and wondering how much resentment Xiang Fei would harbor towards her. However, over the past five or six days, Lin Wan did not see any movement from Xiang Fei. Lin Wan's heart had been hanging in suspense, unsure of what method Xiang Fei would use to make a move, or if she was not planning to make a move at all.

  After finishing breakfast, Lin Wan played with the new jade ornaments bestowed by the Emperor. The room was warm and cozy with a brazier and three large charcoal basins placed at her feet, making her feel drowsy, but unfortunately, she had gotten up too late and couldn't sleep, feeling that life was too idle.

  After a long wait until dusk, the palace staff in Jingyue Pavilion also started to bustle about, preparing to welcome the imperial carriage. However, half an hour later, Chu Xue rushed in from outside, panting and told Lin Yu: "Young Master, the Emperor won't be able to make it today."

  Lin Yan's face didn't show a hint of disappointment, instead, she curled up the corners of her lips and smiled lightly: "Has she gone to Linzhi Palace? I knew it, Xiang Fei can't sit still. We don't need to bother with her..."

  "No, young master!" Chuxue shook her head repeatedly: "The emperor is in Huayang Palace... Ye Guiren is pregnant, already three months along!"

  Lin Yan suddenly sat up in bed.

  How did Ye Xiu Xin get pregnant?

  Let me calculate, the Emperor left the palace on September 14th to head north, and now it's already November... Ye Xiuning should have been pregnant in early August. At that time, she was quite favored, the Emperor stayed overnight many times, so it wasn't surprising that she got pregnant. However... The harem of Tuoba Hong is different from those of previous dynasties, with several powerful external relatives holding heavy power and checking each other, their conflicts are much more cruel than others. The struggles between the Empress, Xiang Fei, and Shen Yunrong have also led to a situation where the children in the harem are scarce. Ye Xiuning, a small and insignificant noblewoman, without the support of a powerful maternal family, managed to get pregnant and keep it for three months, which is really not easy at all.

  "Is this news just out? She had been hiding it from me all along?"

  Chu Xue thought for a moment and said, "That's right, the Emperor has been away from the palace for so long, and Ye Guiren's pregnancy hasn't leaked out at all. It's really hard for her to keep it hidden, now that the Emperor is gone, the palace belongs to Shanggui Furen... Oh, isn't Ye Guiren serving the Empress Dowager with Tong Bin Furen? I reckon she must be under the protection of the Empress Dowager."

  "Is that so?" Lin Wan's eyebrows furrowed: "These days, the Long Le Palace has been served by Tian Pin, and Tian Pin is a capable person. In just a few months, she suppressed Ye Guiren, Wu Guiren, Xu Ronghua and others. Ye Guiren and others have rarely shown their faces in front of the Empress Dowager."

  "If it wasn't the Empress Dowager, who else could it be! Ye Guiren herself doesn't have the ability to keep the child safe." Chu Xue said softly: "Now the Empress Dowager is also very happy, and has just personally issued an edict to confer the title of Liangyuan on Guiren. Ye Guiren's figure is slender and weak, even wearing thick satin in winter can't hide anything. Today, Ye Guiren went to the palace of the Queen to pay respects, felt dizzy and asked for the imperial doctor to come and take a look, that's when the secret was revealed. There is no one in charge in Huayang Palace where Ye Guiren lives, so the Queen has already issued an edict ordering Guiren to move to Changxin Palace temporarily, which is also convenient for taking care of her..."

  Lin Wan was startled: "You said the Empress?"

  "Yes, taking care of pregnant consorts is also part of the empress's duties." Chuxue was still unaware.

  Lin Wan was shocked. She pulled Chunxue's hand: "In the past two months when we followed the emperor to Beisi, most of those who served in front of the empress dowager were Wang Shurong and Tianpin, Xu Ronghua and Ye Guiren, etc., all of whom were excluded by Chu Huashang. The empress dowager and the emperor valued Chu Huashang, and Ye Xiuxin was insignificant to them, so they allowed Ye's family to be suppressed. You must have heard about this too. If it is said that the empress dowager wants to protect Ye's family, why would she neglect her?"

  "Now that Ye Guiren is pregnant, the Empress Dowager naturally knows and is delighted. But why didn't Ye Guiren move to Changle Palace, but instead to Changxin Palace?"

  Lin Wan asked many questions. Finally, she stared at Chu Xue and said, "Do you still remember that when Bai Xiuyi was alive, she had a good relationship with Ye Shi?"

  Chu Xue's mouth opened in surprise, and the expression on her face was one of terror: "Young Master, you're saying...the Empress?"

  "Did you tell me that moving to Changxin Palace was agreed by Imperial Concubine Ye herself?"

  The first snow finally had a sense of sudden realization, and nodded repeatedly: "Yes, Ye Liangyuan is now the most precious young master in the palace, and the emperor is delighted. If she doesn't want to go to Changxin Palace for temporary residence, the empress cannot force her."

  "This is just right." Lin Wan said, suddenly slapping her palm on the small table, a hint of resentment on her face: "Empress Xiao, what a wonderful move! From afar in the imperial court, she can still manipulate and control from behind the scenes, deciding victory thousands of miles away! She has calculated the fate of Shen's family and King Zhao, and even calculated that she wants to get a child out of it! The child of Ye Shi is not the same as Sheng Fei. The Emperor is wary of Sheng Fei, but he likes Ye Shi, who comes from a humble background, to give birth to his children. With so few children in the imperial harem of Da Qin, if this pregnancy can be safely delivered, it will be the biggest trump card in the hands of the Empress, and even the future struggle for the throne..."

  Lin Wan's voice stopped abruptly at this point. In the quiet and soundless great hall, even the sound of snow piling up on the branches outside the door could be heard, Lin Wan felt that her palms were sweating.

  She couldn't care about her injuries, almost wanting to jump out of bed immediately. She grasped Chunxue's arm tightly and exclaimed: "Empress, she has made such a big move! Chunxue, do you still remember how Bai Xiuyi died? She was poisoned to death with arsenic in the Linji Palace, taking two lives with one body! I never understood why the Empress would use a child as a bargaining chip to exchange for Shangfei's life. This deal wasn't very cost-effective...

  Chu Xue's heart was even more turbulent than Lin Wan's. Her lips trembled as she whispered, "When the Lian Ji Palace incident occurred, it was just a few days after August 15th. According to the dates, Liang Wan was already pregnant in early August. If her pulse was stable, a half-month pregnancy could have been detected. In other words, the Empress already knew at that time..."

  "Right! She had already figured everything out!" Lin Wan's face gradually turned pale: "Ye Shi, the daughter of the governor of Jeju Island, entered the palace in the winter of Qianwu 7th year and was favored in the beginning of the 8th year. At that time, Empress Xiang was very powerful, and I, along with Bai Shi and Ye Shi, were often bullied by her. Ye Xiuyi's family background was not prominent, and she wasn't particularly liked by the emperor, so she was publicly reprimanded by Empress Xiang several times, making life difficult for her. Later, she became friends with me, but because of Empress Xiang, she had to pretend to be at odds with me on the surface. Ye Xiuyi appears gentle and weak on the surface, but in private, she is actually very cunning and has been secretly getting close to Bai Xiuyi without my knowledge. I had suspected that she was being manipulated by the empress before, and now it seems..."

  "That is to say, Her Majesty the Queen had already held a crown prince in her hands!" Chūxuē struggled to suppress her astonishment.

  "Yes, she has long controlled the Ye family, so she dares to sacrifice White Xiwei's child." Lin Wan sighed softly. White Xiwei was an excellent candidate for a chess piece, but her only shortcoming was her own proud and illustrious family background - the eldest granddaughter of the Minister of Justice, White Ze, and the eldest daughter of the Governor of Lu Nan, White Yi. With such a background, even if the Emperor didn't favor her, it would be impossible to mistreat her. The child she gave birth to was unlikely to be given to someone else to raise, so the Empress would need to put in some effort to get this child.

  Ye Xiu Xin, the daughter of a minor sixth-grade official, even if she gave birth to an imperial son, did not have the qualifications to raise him herself.

  Tuoba Hong weighed the thoughts of the imperial court, and Empress Rui was naturally clear about it. The Emperor would not allow her to hold onto two imperial heirs, so Ye Shi and Bai Xiuyi could only choose one, and the other would be taken by the Empress for another purpose...

  Everyone in the palace knew that Bai Xiuzi was serving the empress, but no one would have known that Ye Xiangxin was also working for the empress. On the surface, Bai Xiuzi had done many things for the empress and eventually sacrificed her life, which could be said to be a case of "dying in harness". However, the person the empress truly valued was actually this unassuming Ye lady.

  "Speaking of which, Ye's family lives in the Huayang Palace. Isn't there a master in charge of the Huayang Palace?" Lin Wan thought of an irrelevant question and asked casually.

  Before Chuxue could respond, she suddenly remembered and slapped her forehead, saying: "Oh, the Zuo Imperial Concubine who had been bedridden for five years lived in the main hall of Huayang Palace, right? What a pity! If Zuo Imperial Concubine were in good health, how would Ye Shi let the Empress Dowager snatch this fat meat so easily?"

  ***

  Ye Shi's pregnancy was like a huge stone thrown into the already turbulent harem. And the news that she would soon be moving to Changxin Palace shocked the concubines even more. Ye Shi's humble origins made her unlikely to become a major player, but once this child became the emperor's own flesh and blood, it would be easy to remember his name in the future, wouldn't the harem of the Qianwu dynasty be dominated by the empress alone?

  And not to mention what the concubines in the harem think, Empress Xiao is becoming more and more powerful, Emperor Tuoba Hong won't be happy about it. However, since Consort Xiao was poisoned by Mu Wu Wang's assassin and became infertile for life, it's reasonable that she would ask her husband for an adopted son as his legitimate wife. Most importantly, Lady Ye herself respects the Empress deeply and personally asked Emperor Tuoba Hong to grant her a favor to move into Changxin Palace.

  Lin Wan did not know about Tuoba Hong's thoughts, but in any case, three days later Ye Xiu Xin still moved into the Changxin Palace as she had wished.

  Tuoba Hong finally allowed Huang Hou.